Don't you just love this time of year? Honestly, I do. I relish in this holiday. I love to bake 12 different cookies and candies, decorate the nest, and listen to Christmas music. What I don't like is trying to get a decent picture of the kids in front of the tree for our Christmas card. This has been the tradition since we moved here, Caleb sits in front of the tree, dressed in his holiday best, and I take 250 photos, hoping that one, JUST ONE, is worthy of a card to be sent to 75 of our friends and family. Last year Cohen joined him, in his Santa suit, and I think he's getting back at me for it.
I have spent the last 2 weeks trying to get these kids pictures done, and it is like having a bird peck out your eyes. Cohen DOES NOT sit still. We seem to have a communication problem b/c I sit him down in front of the tree, and say STAY, and he takes off like a bat out of hell....then turns around and laughs. Yes, I have that kid. Caleb on the other hand, tries his hardest to cooperate. Because THAT is Caleb. He will sit for an hour with a fake ass smile on his face, and let me take 2 million pictures if I wanted. Needless to say, there has been a lot of yelling, a lot of crying, and a whole lot of BAD pictures.
I was venting to a girlfriend about this, and she very WISELY said "that is exactly why I don't do Christmas pictures. I don't want to remember fighting with the kids, keeping their clothes neat, or deal with the stress of it all. I want to remember HAPPY STUFF."
So, I finally decided we had enough. I wasn't going to torture us anymore. I was going to make it work with what we had if it killed me. And to my surprise, there were a few photos that I actually could have used. Not ONE where both boys were looking at me smiling normally, but I could have pieced something together. Then I remembered what she had said. So I went back through our photos, and found some of the kids in all their glory. HAPPY, SMILING, AND DOING THINGS THEY LOVE. This is what I want to remember, and what I want THEM to remember. NOT that I made them sit in front of the tree every year in a fancy outfit to have their pictures done. God willing maybe someday it will be easier, and dare I say...fun, but this year it just....uggghhh, was not. So, I made another card...one that brought tears to my eyes when I picked it up at Costco today.
So when you get your Christmas card, you won't see my Christmas tree, you won't see Christmas outfits, there are no stockings or bows. What you will see are happy kids doing things they love, and a happy family, making happy memories. Isn't that what Christmas should be about anyways?
And since you won't see this on the card, but I know some people feel the need to see the "christmasy" pictures, here's the few better ones we got.
Merry Christmas :)
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